For area Notre Dame fans, a chance to wake the echoes

They're the ones that whisk him back almost 40 years in a flash. To New Orleans. The old Tulane Stadium. To a New Years Eve never to be forgotten.

They're the ones that remind him who he is, remind him of the storied football program of which he became part and the coach who helped guide him into manhood.

Wake up the echoes? Nothing will make them rest.

Tonight, there will be a seat in the end zone of Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., reserved for Hayduk. He'll be there with his two daughters, but he may not sit. He may not want to. The last time he watched Notre Dame take on Alabama for the NCAA Division I football championship, he didn't.

A bulldozing fullback during his days Lackawanna Trail, he had become what he'd be known for by Dec. 31, 1973: a gritty, physical defensive end for the Fighting Irish during the heart of coach Ara Parseghian's greatness.

He served as a backup that season, but in that Dec. 31 game, he saw plenty of action at defensive tackle. Most importantly, he saw the Fighting Irish outlast the Crimson Tide, 24-23, to win the sixth of their eight national titles.

"You don't appreciate it enough when you go through it," Hayduk said. "I was a kid from Factoryville, Pa. A town of 1,000 people. And I was there, playing for the national championship. ..."

There, his voice trailed off, into the comfort of memories.

There were the echoes again.

Long drought

Thirty-nine years after Hayduk and his Fighting Irish teammates toppled Alabama for the national title, Notre Dame will look for the same result tonight. The Fighting Irish, top-ranked and unbeaten, will face the No. 2 Crimson Tide for the prize the program practically owned for generations that came to know Knute Rockne, Frank Leahey, Parsegian, Dan Devine and Lou Holtz as the caretakers of greatness.

On the tight-knit campus of about 12,000 students, the anticipation for Notre Dame's first crack at a national title since 1988 has become national news. Just more than 615 miles to the east, Scranton might be almost as electrified.

For Notre Dame Clubs from Archbald to Minooka, a night like this has been a long time coming. Too long.

Not only have the Irish not won a national title in 24 years - their longest drought since Rockne led them to their first championship in 1924 - but they haven't won a bowl game played on New Year's Day or later since 1993. They're 0-7 since. They've gone through five head coaches since Holtz left in 1996. These have been tough times, and for most, waking the echoes has seemed almost impossible.

"These Notre Dame fans have been waiting for years to jump up and scream and holler," said Holtz, the fiery coach who led the Irish to that '88 championship. "I've been working (as an analyst) at ESPN for eight years, and there are about six restaurants I go and eat in. For the first time, I've had waitresses come up to me and say, 'Boy, isn't this a great year for Notre Dame?' I don't know if they even knew whether a football was blown up or stuffed. I go through the airport, I go through security easier than ever before (because) it's, 'Coach, isn't Notre Dame doing great?' I mean, it's people who have never talked to me about college football before.

"When Notre Dame is on top, college football is better."

That's the "Notre Dame arrogance" that turns off so many fans. But even around here, where Penn State and Pittsburgh are ingrained as college football powers, college football fans have a love-hate relationship with the Irish.

Pitt is struggling. Penn State is burdened by NCAA sanctions and seemingly endless drama. But the Irish are back, unbeaten and one win away from a championship again.

Is college football better because of it?

"You don't expect me to say no," Hayduk laughed.

Excellence revisited

You don't expect John Culkin to say no, either.

By his own description, he's a North Scranton Catholic who never had a shot to escape Notre Dame. His connection to the school began in his living room, watching the football team play on Saturday afternoons. Listening to his father say we need this first down, we need a touchdown. It's just the way adults talk. But with Culkin, with Notre Dame, the link became personal.

"You lived and died by the way they moved up the field," said Culkin, now the president of the Scranton Notre Dame Club, which serves Notre Dame alumni, parents and friends in the area.

Before long, there wasn't anything Culkin wouldn't do to get to Notre Dame. In high school, he sent Notre Dame an application. Notre Dame denied him. He spent a semester at the University of Scranton before deciding he needed to give his dream school a chance. So, he left Scranton for South Bend and enrolled at nearby Holy Cross College, working and studying long hours to get his grades acceptable enough for admission to Notre Dame. In short, he took the Rudy Route.

Even for the students, separating football from the institution is nearly impossible. Culkin worked in football management at Notre Dame, where he helped pull the nets behind the goal posts and even prepare the famous gold helmets for painting each week.

In that line of work, he got the chance to see coaches like Bob Davie and Tyrone Willingham prepare their teams for practice, and prepare themselves for games afterward. He earned an appreciation for the program during times that weren't exactly glorious.

"I think what really defines it is a commitment to excellence," Culkin said. "It's not the silver dome."

Culkin said the world seems to spin a little faster when Notre Dame's football team is playing games like this. He sees it now, after all these years when he only hoped to root for something this positive, this exciting.

"Once you get to Notre Dame, you start to learn a little more what it means, their standards and their values," Culkin said. "The football team is just a great extension of that. In the American society, it's what people relate to. That's just a great way of getting the university out there, making people think about Notre Dame, what it stands for and hopefully bring it out in conversation."

Back on top

For the last 24 years, Hayduk did his best to make a yearly journey back to campus, back to the place where his greatest athletic accomplishments are most appreciated.

When he arrived for the Sept. 22 game against Michigan, he could already sense a different buzz. Weeks earlier, before the season began, he'd honestly have been tickled if he had been guaranteed a 9-3 finish for his Irish. It was already a different feeling by then.

Since, he has found comparisons between the 2012 Irish and his 1973 Irish that he isn't sure he can quantify as a coincidence. Both teams had underpublicized senior classes. Both teams were diverse on offense and defense. Both teams had freshmen making significant impacts as starters - defensive end Ross Browner in 1973, and quarterback Everett Golson this year. Both teams beat USC by almost identical scores. Both teams were bonded by tragedy - in 1973, quarterback Tom Clements' younger sister was killed when she was hit by a car the week before the season opener and, this season, linebacker Manti Te'o lost his grandmother and girlfriend in the same week. Both teams drew Alabama in the national title game. Both teams will play as underdogs.

But only one team, he knows, will play to eliminate years of frustration, to aim to please a nation of fans and ruin the night of likely as many haters. In Miami. In South Bend. In Scranton. Notre Dame will always be a team to watch.

"You've got two traditional college football powers playing for the championship. It doesn't get any better than that," Hayduk said. "You've got people who love Notre Dame. You've got people who hate Notre Dame. I wouldn't be surprised to see it outdraw the Super Bowl."

Contact the writer: dcollins@timesshamrock.com

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